diff --git a/builtin/tag.c b/builtin/tag.c
index f623632186..6a396a5090 100644
--- a/builtin/tag.c
+++ b/builtin/tag.c
@@ -390,8 +390,8 @@ int cmd_tag(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 		OPT_GROUP(N_("Tag creation options")),
 		OPT_BOOL('a', "annotate", &annotate,
 					N_("annotated tag, needs a message")),
-		OPT_CALLBACK('m', "message", &msg, N_("message"),
-			     N_("tag message"), parse_msg_arg),
+		{ OPTION_CALLBACK, 'm', "message", &msg, N_("message"),
+		  N_("tag message"), PARSE_OPT_NONEG, parse_msg_arg },
 		OPT_FILENAME('F', "file", &msgfile, N_("read message from file")),
 		OPT_BOOL('e', "edit", &edit_flag, N_("force edit of tag message")),
 		OPT_BOOL('s', "sign", &opt.sign, N_("annotated and GPG-signed tag")),